T
he band pretty much pooched the sleestak with this one and woke up in the lap of Lucifer. They’d been going downhill for years, so label Epic figured they didn’t have a lot to lose by foisting outside material on the band. Unfortunately, it worked. For Epic anyway. “The Flame” went to #1 and Lap of Luxury sold over one million copies. Welcome to Hell. Just to rub it in, the second single was a pointless cover of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel.” Reached #4. Even “Ghost Town” (a downbeat ballad that sounds like Roy Orbison) made it into the Top 40. They were lapping it up alright. Tricksters, of course, weren’t so easily tricked. For Epic’s edification, we’d been buying Cheap Trick albums just because of the original material. “Never Had A Lot To Lose,” “All We Need Is A Dream” and “All Wound Up” are the best things about this record. The band does a good job with the material they’re given (“Space” is fine if you believe that late-period Aerosmith doesn’t suck or that Santa Claus would really haul his fat ass down your filthy chimney to leave you toys or save your immortal soul or something), but certainly Alice Cooper or Jefferson Starship could have used the helping hand up their puppet hole more than Cheap Trick. Lap of Luxury never fails to send me running back to the mediocre mid-80s albums (One on One, Next Position Please), which in turn usually send me back to the original fantastic five.

TRACK LISTING

LET GO (Rick Nielsen/Todd Cerney) 4:25

NO MERCY (Jon Lind/Jim Scott) 3:53

THE FLAME (Bob Mitchell/Nick Graham) 5:37

SPACE (Mike Chapman/Holly Knight) 4:15

NEVER HAD A LOT TO LOSE (Robin Zander/Tom Petersson) 3:23

DON'T BE CRUEL (Otis Blackwell/Elvis Presley) 3:06

WRONG SIDE OF LOVE (Rick Nielsen/Todd Cerney) 3:59

ALL WE NEED IS A DREAM (Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander/Gregg Giuffria) 4:19